Monday, September 18, 2006

Rollicking Weekend

Sometimes you know that a particular weekend is going to be good on Friday itself. The one that swept past yesterday was one such for me. Friday was pretty cheerful because it had only 3 working hours :D. We had our department picnic that afternoon – and to our utter happiness, the boss sent a mail in the morn stating that folks can go home after the picnic and need not come back to ensure the 8-hour working time. After an ice-breaking game of finding a person in the group who “Owned a rabbit” or one who “wore toe rings” or one who “did polka” and so on; we had a lunch of Pizza and Salad.One of committees in our department is called “Morale” – the responsibility of this team being – survey the morale of the department, take inputs from all the employees and come up with suggestions on how to improve the morale of the team.It was the responsibility of this team to conduct some games/team building activity on that day. They did come up with some good activities and we all went back home smiling.

One of my colleagues was talking about the weather being fine at Cedar Point, an amusement park about 3 hours drive from our city. So, that evening – the Mr. and me made plans, called up one family that we know of and 2 bachelors and were all geared up for an outing the next day. I am not at all one for such sudden trips – but this one I must say will be always remembered as one of our best trips to any place, not only for the fact that we had grrrrreat fun but also because I did my first 3 hour driving trip – Yes! Yours truly drove all the way to Cedar Point and half-way back also! It indeed is some achievement for me, considering that the maximum I have driving on freeway is from home to a mall that is 10 miles away! And the icing on the cake was to be complimented for it, and when the two bachelors – Jai and Amitav, who were in their own car behind us – said that it was tough catching up with me as I drove faster than the Mr. (I was all smiles).Upon entering the park we were stumped by the gigantic roller coasters and monstrous rides. We were sure we would not even want to step into one. We took one roller coaster ride called Blue Streak, assuming it would be a small one – the first vertical drop of 72ft had us all rattled and searching for our stomach in our throats. Thereupon, we decided to be more cautious and so took the rotating Matterhorn – it was this which gave us the needed boost I think, and also the ambience of the place maybe.

We ventured on a ride called “Iron Dragon”, which I think was the coolest in the whole place. You are seated in a chair like thing and hang from the main line of the ride, and it twists and turns around a pool of water – the view is what makes it all worthwhile I felt. We rode this ride thrice, till we got bored of it! The best part was since it was a normal weekend, there was hardly any queue. This place is reputed to have waiting times that go upto 1 and ½ hour for each ride and all we had to wait was for a max of 10 mins!! After the “Iron Dragon” all the males in the group had become really enthu and were raring to go on all the rides they could lay eyes on. I ventured on most of them and dropped off a couple when I heard that the sheer vertical drop was more than 150 ft or so.

We had a new food item at this place called “Elephant Ears”. It is nothing but our local Bathura – of gigantic size though and with a bit of cinnamon and loads of sugar sprinkled on it. A nice new food item!

This park hosts the ride that is currently the world’s number 1 – Dragster. Folks are strapped to a car that is shot off a track and reaches 120 MPH speed in just 4 seconds and shoots upto a vertical height of 450 ft along a path that is twisted at an angle of 270 en-route and drops back to ground at the same speed. The whole process takes only about 8 seconds and like somebody remarked – even if you scream on this ride by the time the scream is out of you, the ride is done! I could hardly stand next to the place, and wondered what is it that made people even venture for the ride. When I stood just below the contraption, just looking up made me dizzy, and here was a small kid of 8-9 years who was boastfully talking of how he was going to take the ride – I don’t know if the ride had age restrictions.

The last of the rides that we took was the “Raptor”, where the passengers are made to sit with feet dangling on hanging chairs – dropped from a height of nearly 100 ft and rotated 360 degrees, nearly 6 times! It was a mind blowing and thrilling ride, one I am going to remember for ages to come.

Our throats are sore today, with all that screaming – but it was a trip worth remembering. I might never even venture near any roller coasters in my life, but I am glad I had this experience.